Scientists voice concerns to Trudeau about weaponization of Artificial Intelligence

A letter calling for a ban on weaponization of Artificial Intelligence was sent by Canadian scientists to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

More than 200 AI researchers in Canada signed the open letter to the Prime Minister “calling on you and your government to make Canada the 20th country in the world to take a firm global stand against weaponizing AI. Lethal autonomous weapons systems that remove meaningful human control from determining the legitimacy of targets and deploying lethal force sit on the wrong side of a clear moral line.”

The letter asks “Canada to announce its support for the call to ban lethal autonomous weapons systems at the upcoming United Nations Conference on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Canada should also commit to working with other states to conclude a new international agreement that achieves this objective.”

This letter has been released one week before the international community meets under the auspices of the CCW to discuss the issue of autonomous weapons systems.

Mines Action Canada’s Programme Coordinator, Erin Hunt will be attending the meeting next week in Geneva. She said in a statement that “in past discussions at the CCW, some states have expressed concern that a prohibition on autonomous weapons systems would have a negative impact on AI research more broadly. This letter and the similar one released by Australian AI experts show that those concerns are misplaced. The AI research community is calling for the opposite – bold and decisive action to prohibit autonomous weapons systems in order to support the development of AI that would benefit humanity.”